What's new

Updates 2012

The focus of this research was to help identify and analyse accessibility issues for disabled citizens living within the EU. This survey covers the following three areas: The profile of people with disabilities and the difficulties encountered with accessibility (transport/buildings/communication technology/voting/websites), the perception of improved accessibility of goods and services and benefits in removing barriers and how to improve and guarantee accessibility.

This survey looks into attitudes and perceptions of Europeans towards discrimination, based on different grounds (gender, ethnic origin, religion or beliefs, age, disability, sexual orientation and gender identity). As the last Eurobarometer on this topic, from 2009, this survey also includes several questions on the impact of the crisis on the implementation of anti-discrimination policies and efforts. New questions have been added to cover important or emerging topics, such as the situation of the Roma in Europe, discrimination outside the workplace or the links between discrimination and accessibility. Perceptions on discrimination against transsexual and transgender persons are also explored for the first time.

The EU and its Member States continue to be the world's largest donor of development assistance. As the world is evolving, so, too, are the development challenges which the international community faces. This survey measures the attitudes of the European public towards development cooperation. It covers general perceptions of Europeans towards development aid, their views of the future of aid and on which areas and countries it should focus. The survey also analyses how private companies operating in developing countries are perceived and the willingness of individuals to take action to help people in those countries.

The Special Eurobarometer on the social climate covers 15 areas and asks respondents to assess, for each of these areas, the current situation, how the situation has evolved over the past five years and how they expect it to change over the coming year. This is the 4th wave following the 1st conducted in 2009 (Special EB 315), the 2nd in 2010 (Special EB 349) and the 3rd in 2011 (Special EB 370). The EU27 average social climate index has slightly decreased compared to previous years masking substantial national differences which reflect the way the Member States have been coping with the crisis.

The Flash Eurobarometer on space activities of the European Union was conducted in July 2012 in order to examine our citizens’ awareness, expectations and wishes regarding space based services and their opinion on the role of the EU in the development of space activities.

This report focuses on competition in the railway market.Opening up national freight and passenger markets to cross-border competition is a major step towards the creation of an integrated European railway area and of a genuine EU internal market for rail.

This survey looks into public attitudes towards robots. While robotics is a key technology for Europe’s future competitiveness, public perceptions of robots are, however, often influenced by misconceptions and fears. In order to improve the image of robots and to increase public acceptance, it is necessary to better understand public opinion about this technology.To this end, familiarity, personal experiences with robots and more specific attitudes towards robots are analysed. The survey also examines various application areas for robots and presents the areas where EU citizens believe robots should be used as a priority or banned. Furthermore, the survey studies the acceptance of certain tasks done by robots.

This new survey aims to examine, for the first time, European consumers' perceptions and experiences with the safety of specific services: accommodation, organised outdoor leisure activities, swimming pools, beauty and wellness centres and amusement parks and fairgrounds. Consumers are asked about their use of these services, their perception and experience about their safety and the occurrence of accidents causing injury while using these services. The survey looks into the causes and the consequences of accidents occurred during the provision of a service, and also whether consumers make official complaints following accidents.

This report presents the results of a Flash Eurobarometer survey into attitudes of Romanian and Bulgarian respondents towards the state of the judicial system and corruption in their country. It also shows the perception of EU support in this area through the Cooperation and Verification Mechanism. In Bulgaria only, the report also addresses the subject of organised crime.Respondents are asked how seriously they take these issues, whether they feel the situation in their country has improved over the last five years and whether the EU ought to be involved in further monitoring and verification. It also brings the perception about the impact the EU has played so far and the attitudes towards its further involvement. The survey also measures general awareness of the EU’s Cooperation and Verification Mechanism.

The aim of this Eurobarometer survey is to understand EU citizens’ experiences and perceptions of cyber security issues. The survey examines the frequency and type of internet use that EU citizens have; their confidence about internet transactions; their awareness and experience of cybercrimes; and the level of concern for such crime.

This survey shows that EU citizens understand that food security is a global issue, with a large majority expressing concern at the challenge of feeding the world’s growing population. Attitudes to food quality vary by Member State and price is an almost equally important consideration for many. However, although there is an improvement compared to previous years, only a minority of EU citizens recognise the logos introduced by the EU to ensure the quality and origin of certain types of food products. Finally, there is a broad consensus across most Member States and socio-demographic groups that agriculture plays a beneficial role and makes a positive contribution to the preservation of rural areas.

The Eurobarometer survey provides a detailed analysis of the way that main e-communications services are accessed and used by households and individuals. It helps us to understand how EU households and EU citizens derive benefits from the increasingly competitive and innovative digital environment. This survey is a follow-up to previous annual surveys conducted since 2006. This year's edition places emphasis on the consumer's perception of the transparency of information, quality of service and switching service provider in relation to the current debate on net neutrality. In the course of this survey, 26,836 EU citizens in the 27 Member States of the European Union were interviewed, between 3 and 18 December 2011.

The survey provides information about the citizens' attitudes towards foreign languages and multilingualism within the European Union.It looks at the ways in which Europeans learn and use foreign languages, exploring their motivations and potential barriers to learning.It also gauges their opinion on the role of interpretation and translation in relation to European institutions and various areas across society.

This study reports on the abilities of companies to innovate and to interact with public services. The survey shows which levels of government are regarded as the most innovative and the quality of the service they provide. The report also gives information about the role of innovation in public procurement.

This year the European Commission’s Humanitarian Aid and Civil Protection department (ECHO) celebrates its 20th anniversary. To mark this occasion two surveys were conducted to see how the European Union’s actions in humanitarian aid and disaster response are viewed by European citizens. This survey examines European citizens’ attitudes towards EU humanitarian aid policy. The respondents have been asked how important it is that the EU provides humanitarian aid and whether it should continue to do so, despite economic crisis. Citizens’ position on the common or national approach by providing humanitarian aid was also one of the survey’s objectives. In addition, this opinion poll presents citizens’ attitude towards the plans to establish an EU humanitarian aid voluntary corps.

This survey looked at European citizens’ attitudes towards EU civil protection activities and their concern about various man-made and natural disasters. This opinion poll shows the level of support among citizens for EU coordinated action in dealing with disasters in comparison to the national approach. The level of solidarity with victims of disasters outside the EU was also one of the objectives of the survey.

This survey was undertaken to provide the baseline for an information campaign on consumer rights in Romania that the European Union will conduct in 2012.It aims to measure consumer problems in some specific sectors, perceived knowledge and interest in consumer rights, as well as familiarity with sources of information on consumer rights, previous consumer rights campaigns and trust in organisations and institutions. 1003 randomly selected citizens in Romania aged 15+ were interviewed between 14 and 26 October by telephone in cities with more than 100 000 inhabitants.

This survey has been undertaken with the overall objectives of understanding European citizens’ awareness and attitudes in relation to home affairs, including attitudes towards cross-border mobility, migration and security. In the survey respondents have been asked if they support asylum policies, whether the EU should encourage labour migration from non-EU countries and whether the discussion about immigration in the EU is based on facts. Regarding security, among other questions, Europeans were asked if the EU institutions and Member States governments should work more closely together and if the EU should increase financial support to Member States to tackle terrorism and organised crime.

In order to monitor the current situation and public attitudes towards tobacco, the EU regularly carries out public opinion polls. This survey is the latest in a series that have been carried out since 2003. Although the questionnaire design has changed over time, the main objectives have remained unchanged: mapping the current consumption of tobacco products, understanding the motivations behind smoking and the attitudes underlying smoking behavior, and identifying measures to reduce the number of Europeans who smoke.

The survey provides a picture of the retailers' awareness of and compliance with their legal obligations towards consumers. In addition, it gives information on cross-border sales, complaints handling and safety issues.

116 is a range of easy-to-remember and free-of-charge phone numbers to assist children and adults in need. The European Commission has reserved five short numbers with a single format 116 + 3 digits for services of social value that should be accessible to everyone in Europe. The strong support expressed across the European Union for the five types of helplines (80-91% of Europeans think that these numbers are fairly or very useful) demonstrates the importance of providing these services and of unifying them under a single numbering range throughout the EU. Across the EU, three out of four people feel that their Government does not provide enough information about the 116 helplines.

"What do patients and healthcare professionals think about an active role of patients in their healthcare? In a qualitative Eurobarometer study, we collected opinions of doctors and patients on patient involvement in healthcare. In depth interviews were held with practitioners, nurses and patients in 15 Member States to learn about what they experience in their clinical practice. It shows that patient involvement in healthcare is not a sharply defined concept and that the traditional patient-doctors relationship is still the most common."

A Eurobarometer on the « Future of Europe » was published today to coincide with a workshop of the European Commission’s Bureau of European Policy Advisers (BEPA). Perhaps unsurprisingly, citizens feel there is a gap between public opinion and the decisions taken by political leaders. However, over half of Europeans express confidence in the ability of political leaders in the EU to face the main global challenges. More than six in ten Europeans agree that the EU has sufficient power and tools to defend Europe’s economic interests in the global economy, even if the proportion of Europeans who disagree has increased since spring 2011. The survey also reveals that Europeans agree that globalisation requires common global rules.

The sixth Flash Eurobarometer on the social impact of the crisis reveals that a significant number of Europeans (80%) think poverty has increased in their own country over the past 12 months. In all but four countries, in comparison with the previous October 2010 wave, more respondents feel that their financial situation has worsened in the past year and only 14% of EU citizens think their household's financial situation will improve in the next year. Difficulties with the affordability of services such as health care, childcare and long-term care are perceived as a problem by more than one third of Europeans. Feelings of job security and optimism about the present and future economic developments are highest in Northern-European countries.

This Eurobarometer survey examines public opinion in the area of retail financial services (bank accounts, mortgage credit, consumer credit, stocks/bonds/shares, investment funds, insurance and payments). The survey covered 26 856 EU citizens in all 27 EU Member States. It analyses the way in which retail financial services are perceived at the EU level and within individual Member States. It also provides cross-country comparisons and socio-demographic analysis to help understand how different sections of society perceive and use retail financial services. The results show large differences in the financial products and services held by European consumers. Moreover, European consumers are extremely immobile when it comes to financial services; many fail to shop around for financial products and the majority have not switched providers for existing products. Given the level of domestic immobility, it is not surprising that levels of direct cross-border activity also remain low

This Eurobarometer accompanies the 2011 Report on the Application of the Charter of Fundamental Rights. Questions asked concentrate on citizens' awareness of the Charter, its scope of application and the institutions that would be solicited in cases of non-respect of citizens' rights. The report presents the differences between EU countries, socio-demographic groups and the European average.

Access to energy for people in developing countries Europeans think that access to energy is an important precondition for overcoming poverty in developing countries. The Flash Eurobarometer "Energy for All - EU support for developing countries" reveals that a large majority of EU citizens believe that Europe should assist people in the developing world in their efforts to gain access to energy. The survey also tested Europeans' views on what types of energy sources should be given preference or what areas of a person's life are particularly affected if there is no access to energy.

SMEs are the backbone of the European economy and their contribution is essential for pursuing the EU goals towards sustainable growth. Representatives of companies, both SMEs and large companies as reference group, were interviewed across the EU, a number of other European countries and the US. This report addresses three core themes: resource efficiency, green markets and green jobs.

This Qualitative Eurobarometer study investigates a second generation of tobacco packaging health warnings. The overall aim of the study was to evaluate 24 proposed new health warnings in order to establish which were likely to have the greatest impact, how the messages could be modified to enhance their impact and which fourteen would represent the best selection for adoption.

A new Eurobarometer has been launched: Women in decision making positions! This survey provides insight into attitudes of European citizens towards equal representation of women and men in leadership positions in private companies and on possible instruments to achieve a more balanced representation in positions of responsibility. The field work of this Special Eurobarometer has been carried out in September 2011 and involved nearly 27.000 interviews in all 27 MS, following the methodology used for Standard Eurobarometer surveys of DG COMM (face to face interviews). If you want to get informed about the main findings of this opinion poll please see the executive summary and the analytical report.

Tourism remains close to the hearts of Europeans and confirms its role as a powerful driver for the economy. The Eurobarometer survey on the attitudes of Europeans towards Tourism provides a detailed insight of Europeans tourism preferences in 2011, such as favourite destinations, reasons for travelling, booking methods, and anticipates travelling trends for 2012.

Corruption is perceived by Europeans as a major problem and is thought to have increased in the last three years, according to the newest Eurobarometer survey. The nature and scope of corruption varies from one EU Member State to another. There is a widespread opinion that there are not enough successful prosecutions to deter bribery and that court sentences in corruption cases are too light. According to the data published -although perception of corruption is rather high -only a fraction of the respondents in the EU (8%) have been asked or expected to pay a bribe in the past year.

112 is the EU-wide emergency number. The present survey found that EU citizens remained in general unfamiliar with this number, with just over a quarter (26%) correctly identifying 112 as the number to call anywhere in the EU in the event of an emergency. There has been only a slight increase in Europeans' awareness of the single emergency number 112 over the past 5 years. On the positive side, the awareness of those who travel between member states is higher (34%).

The aim of this study is to provide detailed qualitative information on journalists’ views and attitudes to social media as well as how they use it as part of their work. Journalists also give their opinion on how the EU uses social media and gave suggestions on how social media communication could be improved.
The study consisted of in-depth interviews with journalists in each of the 27 Member States.

The Eurobarometer survey on Active Ageing has been commissioned by the European Commission 's Directorate General for the Employment, Social Affairs and Inclusion to understand citizens' views and attitudes towards older people , the contribution of older people in the workplace and society, and how to best promote an active role of older people in society.